Cargo containers, typically 7 m or 14 m long, are very widely used for the transport of goods by road, rail and sea. Such containers can be used for the transport of flowable solid products, such as powders, granules or other pulverulent materials. For this purpose, it is known to provide a flexible plastics material bag of a shape and size generally corresponding to the container interior, which bag is suspended in the container to serve as a liner. The products to be transported are then loaded into the bag, the container itself providing the required strength to permit the transportation, while the liner prevents leakage of the product. The liner may have an outlet opening which is held closed until the products are to be discharged, or the liner may simply be cut open, over a discharge hopper.
The fitting of a liner to the interior of a container must be performed carefully in order to avoid areas of high stress which could lead to tearing of the liner when the container is being used for the transport of goods. It is thus time consuming to suspend a liner appropriately within a container and subsequently to release a liner after use from a container, and in order to minimise the time required, various suspension techniques have been developed. Many of these techniques need the use of various hand or even power tools and require considerable care, in order to ensure the liner is not punctured or torn during installation, and will remain intact during loading of the product and the transportation thereof. However, during emptying, the liner should remain in its installed position and not tear or leak, other than at the discharge opening.